Mike Johnson has signed on to direct the CG/Stop-Motion hybrid feature film Oz Wars. The Academy Award and Annie Award-nominee got his start as the Assistant Animation Rigger and Assistant Animator on The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was an animator on James and The Giant Peach, directed three episodes of the lat 1990’s Fox clay animated television series The PJs, and was co-director of the 2005 film Corpse Bride. So basically, he has a long history with stop motion animation.

Written by Rob Moreland (Space Chimps 1 & 2) and Athena Gam (Alien Rock Band), Oz Wars attempts to transform the Wizard of Oz narrative into “a contemporary, freaky action-packed PG-13 audience pleaser, with Dorothy caught up in a whirlwind of warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters.” It’s being described as an animated film thats “not just for kids,” as the world will be “dark, slick, sexy, and dangerous.” Read the press release after the jump.Read More »